The Two Houses sit grey & brooding beneath a pale sky. They cling to the hillside, cowering from the wind, because always, before everything up here, there is the wind. In the not-quite-light of a November afternoon, this whole strange world is beaten by it; the spindly trees, the long sedge grasses, even the houses themselves seem to bend under its assault. The Two Houses were not always two. But if it is human to build
- even up here, in this blasted northern hinterland
- it is human to break, too. After an acclaimed career in ceramics making things & breaking things, it is now Jay herself who has cracked. Recovering from a breakdown, she & her husband Simon move to the desolate edges of the Yorkshire moors, where they find & fall in love with the Two Houses: a crumbling Victorian property whose central rooms were supposedly so haunted that a previous owner had them cut out from the building entirely. But on uprooting their city life & moving to the sheltered grey village of Hestle, Jay & Simon discover it`s not only the Two Houses that seems to be haunted by an obscure past. It becomes increasingly clear that the villagers don`t want them there at all
- & when building work to make the two houses whole again starts, a discovery is made that will unearth decades-old secrets... ` Fine writing... Cooper`s expertly realised characters, both sympathetic & not, have stories interwoven with aplomb` Daily Mail` Confident & brilliant` Lisa O` Donnell


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On one side of the sheet is a 59x 91cm physical map of the region showing towns, cities, the DMZ & major communications of North & South Korea. Relief is depicted by hill shading & altitude tinting. Annotated with information panels & thematic maps on various themes eg. geography, name changes, demography, economy, military spending. On the reverse, the theme is the Korean War of 1950-1953, the progress & key stages of which are briefly described & illustrated with the aid of several small maps. ...

Building on the story begun in The Hobbit, this is the second part of Tolkien`s epic masterpiece, The Lord of the Rings, featuring a striking black cover based on Tolkien`s own design, the definitive text, & a detailed map of Middle-earth. Frodo & the Companions of the Ring have been beset by danger during their quest to prevent the Ruling Ring from falling into the hands of the Dark Lord by destroying it in the Cracks of Doom. They have lost the wizard, Gandalf, in the battle with an evil spirit in the Mines of Moria; & at the Falls of Rauros, Boromir, seduced by the power of the Ring, tried to seize it by force. While Frodo & Sam made their escape the rest of the company were attacked by Orcs. Now they continue their journey alone down the great River Anduin
- alone, that is, save for the mysterious creeping figure that follows wherever they go.
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This is previously published as The Bar on the Seine. A forgotten crime comes to light in the Parisian summer in Georges Simenon`s twisted tale. Book eleven in the new Penguin Maigret series. `A radiant late afternoon. The sunshine almost as thick as syrup in the quiet streets of the Left Bank.. .there are days like this, when ordinary life seems heightened, when the people walking down the street, the trams & cars all seem to exist in a fairy tale.` A story told by a condemned man leads Maigret to a bar by the Seine & into the sleazy underside of respectable Parisian life. In the oppressive heat of summer, a forgotten crime comes to light. Penguin is publishing the entire series of Maigret novels. ” Compelling, remorseless, brilliant”. (John Gray). ” One of the greatest writers of the twentieth century... Simenon was unequalled at making us look inside, though the ability was masked by his brilliance at absorbing us obsessively in his stories”. (Guardian). ”A supreme writer.. .unforgettable vividness”. (Independent). Georges Simenon was born in Liege, Belgium, in 1903. Best known in Britain as the author of the Maigret books, his prolific output of over 400 novels & short stories have made him a household name in continental Europe. He died in 1989 in Lausanne, Switzerl&, where he had lived for the latter part of his life. ...

The Two Year Mountain – A Nepal Journey by Phil Deutschle is a tense & moving autobiographical story recording the author’s experience as a Peace Corps Volunteer in a remote Himalayan village in 1977. This 2012 issue by Bradt contains four additional chapters detailing the authors return to the town, after the Maoist Civil war. The chronicle tells us of a young 23 year old wanting to make a difference in the world, excited to teach in the foothill of the Himalayas, feeling early sense of emotional & cultural isolation & ending up even more alienated when his service finishes two years later. This state of mind is the premise for his dangerous decision to solo climb Pharchamo, a 20, 580 feet high mountain that nearly cost him his life. The final third of the book is dedicated to his return to the village in 2011 to find out the fate of his family & former students, &

Includes:: some poignant reflection on the civil war. Part adventure, part travel journal The Two Year Mountain is a roller coaster of emotions with vividly described events, offering a view of Nepal as it once was. It is a gripping story that offers something to everyone. It will fascinate anyone interested in this country & culture & the broader issue of foreign aid as well as anyone who loves adventures & climbing.

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Who`s that singing on the savannah? It`s the top-five ugly animals in Africa! The wildebeest, warthog, vulture, hyena & marabou stork swagger proudly across the savannah, rejoicing in their ugliness
- & delighting their babies, who think they`re perfect just the way they are. Inspired by the real-life Ugly Five safari animals, Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler`s br&-new picture book is a jubilant celebration of animals who are often rather unloved. The funny, heart-warming rhyme is a joy to read aloud, while bold, comical illustrations bring the savannah spectacularly to life.
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When FIFA awarded the tiny desert state of Qatar the rights to host the 2022 World Cup, the news was greeted with disbelief & allegations of corruption. How had a country with almost no football infrastructure or tradition, a high terror risk & searing summer temperatures of 50C beaten more established countries with stronger bids? The story behind the Qatari success soon developed into one of the greatest sporting scandals of our time. & when the Sunday Times Insight team received a cache of hundreds of millions of documents from a whistleblower, the contents of the FIFA Files became a global sensation, unearthing the corruption that lay at the heart of the bidding process. Now in this remarkable new book by the Sunday Timesjournalists at the centre of the investigation, Heidi Blake & Jonathan Calvert, comes the most comprehensive account yet of what happened & who was involved. Above all, it explains why, despite all the evidence, FIFA under Sepp Blatter continues to support Qatar
- even to the extent of publishing an edited & abbreviated report into the process that was immediately denounced by its original author. Longlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year, The Ugly Gameis undoubtedly the biggest sporting story of our times.
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When the tiny desert state of Qatar won the rights to host the 2022 World Cup, the news was greeted with shock & disbelief. How had a country with almost no football infrastructure or tradition, a high terror risk & searing summer temperatures of 50C beaten more established countries with stronger bids? The story behind the Qatari success soon developed into one of the greatest sporting scandals of our time. Allegations of corruption were soon flying, & when the Sunday Times Insight team received a cache of hundreds of millions of documents from a whistleblower, the contents of the FIFA Files became a global sensation, unearthing the corruption that lay at the heart of the bidding process. Now in this remarkable new book by the Sunday Times journalists at the heart of the investigation, Heidi Blake & Jonathan Calvert, comes the most comprehensive account yet of what happened & who was involved. Above all, it explains why, despite all the evidence, FIFA under Sepp Blatter continues to support Qatar
- even to the extent of publishing an edited & abbreviated report into the process that was immediately denounced by its original author. The Ugly Game is undoubtedly the biggest sporting story of the year.
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Renowned as an age of artistic rebirth, the Renaissance is cloaked with an aura of beauty & brilliance. But behind the Mona Lisa`s smile lurked a seamy, vicious world of power politics, perversity & corruption that has more in common with the present day than anyone dares to admit. Enter a world of corrupt bankers, greedy politicians, sex-crazed priests, rampant disease, & lives of extravagance & excess. Enter the world of the ugly Renaissance. Uncovering the hidden realities beneath the surface of the period`s best-known artworks, historian Alexander Lee takes the reader on a breathtaking & unexpected journey through the Italian past & shows that, far from being the product of high-minded ideals, the sublime monuments of the Renaissance were created by flawed & tormented artists who lived in an ever-expanding world of bigotry & hatred. The only question is: will you ever see the Renaissance in quite the same way again? ...

BBC Radio 4`s Book of the Week
- 14th May 2012. When the only gig Mark Wallington`s R&B band can get is in a nursing home they
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